Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday named the city’s former chief equity officer as chair of the City Planning Commission and director of the Department of City Planning.

Sideya Sherman, who was appointed to her former role by then-Mayor Eric Adams in 2023, also previously served simultaneously as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice.  

What You Need To Know

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has named Sideya Sherman as chair of the City Planning Commission and director of the Department of City Planning

Sherman previously served as the city’s chief equity officer and as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice

The mayor also reappointed Edith Hsu-Chen as executive director of DCP and Eric Enderlin as president of the Housing Development Corporation

The City Planning Commission is the board responsible for holding hearings and voting on proposed land use changes in the five boroughs. The Department of City Planning is the agency tasked with supporting the commission’s work.

Sherman takes on the roles recently vacated by onetime City Councilmember Dan Garodnick, who confirmed in early January that he would be stepping down.

“Sideya Sherman understands that planning is not an abstract exercise — it is about whether working people can afford to live in the city they call home,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Her record in community engagement and equitable development makes her exactly the leader we need at City Planning.”

The mayor also reappointed Edith Hsu-Chen as executive director of DCP and Eric Enderlin as president of the Housing Development Corporation.

“I’m confident that [Sherman] and Edith Hsu-Chen will move with urgency to deliver affordability, advance fair housing and build a city that works for everyday New Yorkers — not just the wealthy and well-connected,” he said.

“Eric Enderlin will continue to lead HDC’s groundbreaking work as the nation’s largest municipal Housing Finance Agency, bringing innovative financing tools to bear to build a more affordable city, starting with the homes that dot the five boroughs,” he added.

Before she served as chief equity officer, Sherman led the city’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity and spent more than 10 years at NYCHA, City Hall said in a release. She also held planning and land use-related roles at the Municipal Art Society and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Hsu-Chen has been the executive director of DCP since 2022, according to City Hall, after starting at the agency as an intern in 1997 and holding several leadership positions. She was also part of the leadership team behind the “City of Yes” zoning reforms.

Meanwhile, Enderlin has been president of HDC for the past decade. According to City Hall, under his leadership, the agency has “issued more than $2 billion in bonds annually and financed the creation and preservation of thousands of affordable homes each year.”

He previously held roles at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, NYCHA, the Louis Berger Group and the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, City Hall said.